Phil Harrison

Searched the archives, found plenty of questions, but not too many answers.

I like the idea of the Optima battery, especially with the 944 disposition of battery tray rot...

Which battery is best? The 75/35 DT (ex-725u) is a little shorter, but the 34/78 (ex 800u) has more uumph.

What's the best way to mount the battery?

Looks like the 75/35 DT can be used standing up,the base is a little thin to clamp down with the original clamps.

How would you clamp the battery with it on it's side? I couldn't see the clamp mentioned here on Performance Product's site .

Anyone got any pictures of your installation to share?

Thanks in advance

WillyC4S

Phil,

I've got an Optima Yellow Top for my 993. This is the version that's the deep discharge version since I don't drive it much. I've had to "bring it back to life" a few times after letting it sit a few weeks w/o a battery trickle charger. Can't do that unless it's a deep-cycle battery. I don't know why more people don't go for the deep-cycle type of battery since there's really no downside (maybe a little more expensive up front, but not enough to outweigh the insurance of being able to recharge again after a near-total drain).

You should go w/ the yellow top and don't worry about acid leaking into the battery tray (as you've mentioned already). In the 993 it's much more critical; the entire area is sealed from the outside so there's no venting (only through a small hose) or even visual inspection. You don't know you're screwed until it's way to late.

BTW, the battey posts for the yellow top are positioned a bit towards the inside of the battery and not on the outside edge like most batterys. This shouldn't be a problem for the 944's but was a real pain in the *** for the 993's. The Optima's also have the mounting ledge near the bottom length of the battery to take a mounting bracket.

Hope this helps.

*****

Geo

How about an Odyssey dry cell battery?

<a href="http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/battery2.htm" target="_blank">http://www.racerpartswholesale.com/battery2.htm</a>

Looks like the P/N PC925MJT ($159.95) would be a good fit and it's not all that much more than a Optima. I use a similar battery made by WestCo for the Miata in my Sentra as do a number of the folks in the Sentra community. They are nice. Since they are a true dry cell they may be mounted in any orientation, unlike an Optima.

Anybody using one of these in a 944? I need to get a battery for my race car and have been debating getting one of these. Technically I'm supposed to use a stock replacement battery, but I think this one is close enough.

I'm not sure about weight, but my WestCo is much lighter than the stock battery, but then again it's smaller as well.

Nico

I'm using the orange top version, is it the version with 52 Ah, or something...
The reason why I selected this, is that it has the same polarity as the "original" battery, so no modifications of the battery cables (wich are SHORT) is required. Fits also under the hood pretty well, since the hight is not much more than that of the original battery.

Positive sides: More power for starting and stereo.
Negative sides: More weight.

Roy LaZelle

My understanding is that deep cycle batteries are less able to handle overcharging such as on a long trip. --Roy--